Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman

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All Rise...

Judge Roman Martel once made the mistake of following Keanu Reeves through a wormhole. Whoa!

The Charge

Easy Reader says, "Worm. Hole. Wormhole!"

The Case

Hi, I'm writing to you from a wormhole. You know it's not too bad in here,
kinda blue and glowy. The weather is nice and I can make stuff materialize all
around me, like apple turnovers and the perfect cup of Earl Grey. How did I end
up in this bizarre world with my laptop? I followed famed actor and documentary
producer Morgan Freeman in. I mean, the guy played God in Bruce Almighty, so obviously he knows a thing or
two about manipulating the space time continuum. We both leapt into the
wormhole, which looked a lot like a scene from The Time Tunnel, and here we are.

But what the heck is a wormhole? Well, funny you should ask. Mr. Freeman and
his pals have crafted an entire series to answer that and may other tough
questions. Is there a creator? Is time travel possible? Are we alone? (Not in a
wormhole obviously, I keep running into Ernie Hudson). And what happened before
the beginning?

To tackle these weighty matters, Morgan and company turn to science, and
this is where things get puzzling. For most of these questions, we don't have
answers. Instead, scientists have come up with several theories that involve
equations the size of Mt. Fuji, concepts involving particle zoos, and the Large
Hadron Collider.

Each episode is crammed full of interesting scientific explorations and
concepts. The format is straightforward, we join Freeman in the wormhole, where
he seems quite comfortable (thank you very much) posing the question for the
episode. After giving us an amusing anecdote how he first thought about the
question as a young man (helped by some reenactments), we dive right into the
science, using a combination of interviews, computer generated visual aids,
location shooting, stock footage (where necessary), and archival footage to
provide historical context. We even get to see some of these scientists get
their Mr. Wizard on, as they do some practical visualizations involving
balloons, tennis balls, RC cars, and food coloring.

Anyway, I'm going to be honest, you have to have a strong interest in
science to get the most out of this show. Sure, they do a great job of
explaining the more complex ideas like String Theory and its affect on time and
space. But the show zips along pretty quickly, eager to deliver as much
information as it can. None of these questions are easily answered, and all of
them have multiple theories supporting them. So there is a lot to cover in the
time provided. This means your brain may be packed full of new ideas about
halfway through when you hit information overload.

But you know what? I like that. Lately I've seen too many documentaries that
only scratch the surface, or attempt to distract you from their shallowness with
pretty pictures. Through the Wormhole takes the opposite approach, and I
got more out of eight episodes of this show than twelve episodes of the
painfully vapid America: The Story of
Us.

Since this series was featured on the Science Network, it means there is no
room for philosophy or religion. Many of these questions have been tackled from
those angles, but Freeman and his crew only provide passing mention. The concept
of Time could provide an entire series based on philosophy alone, so anyone who
finds the idea of scientists using quantum theory to prove or disprove the
existence of a creator may want to look elsewhere.

Production values are solid. Freeman provides all the voiceover, as well as
acting as our host. The title theme is composed by Hans Zimmer and his signature
style is imitated throughout. The full frame images are sharp, even during the
darkest space scenes, and the 2.0 audio is mixed perfectly. As a bonus, we even
get a selection of deleted scenes from each episode, providing a bit more
background on the subject, always a great extra in documentaries.

There is one question I have been able to answer during my time in the
wormhole. Where does my cat disappear to? The answer: He creates a one
dimensional door and goes wherever he damn well pleases. I know this because my
cat just found me and is begging for dinner. Mystery solved.

The Verdict

Mr. Freeman may warp time and space, but he's not guilty.

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